Comedian, writer and TV personality Guy Williams is looking forward to being the odd one out at parties in February 2012. “I’ll be the person without an alcoholic drink in my hand, and in New Zealand that’s pretty unusual,” he says.19 January 2012

TV funny man gets serious about FebFast

Comedian, writer and TV personality Guy Williams is looking forward to being the odd one out at parties in February 2012.

“I’ll be the person without an alcoholic drink in my hand, and in New Zealand that’s pretty unusual,” he says.

“But it’s all for a good cause so I say, bring it on!”

Guy Williams is an ambassador for FebFast 2012, which challenges New Zealanders to give up drinking alcohol for all of February. Participants raise money via online sponsorship for four charities working with young people affected by alcohol or drugs.

Nearly a thousand people took part in the first FebFast in February 2011, which raised more than $100,000 for four community organisations. People can participate in FebFast as individuals or in teams of friends, family, workmates.

“I graduated from university a couple of years ago, so I’ve just come through that whole period of young males going to 21st parties and drinking too much.

“Alcohol’s too accessible and we just have too much of it. FebFast gives us a chance to have a bit of a break, and evaluate the amount of drinking we’re doing.”

The recipient organisations for FebFast 2012 are:

• Evolve, a free Wellington service for young people aged 10 to 25 years. Evolve provides a wide range of general health, primary care and social services to assist youth. The funding it receives from FebFast will support a new programme for brief interventions with young people around alcohol and drug use. You can read more about Evolve at www.evolveyouth.org.nz.

• The ADHD Association, which educates, supports and advocates for people affected by ADHD. FebFast funding will support the development of a substance abuse educational resource for young people with ADHD. Research shows that this group are more prone to substance abuse. The DVD/study guide produced from FebFast funding will be a first in New Zealand for ADHD, and will be relevant to the many social agencies involved with this group. You can read more about the ADHD Association at www.adhd.org.nz.

• Rainbow Youth, Auckland. Queer and Transgender youth are more likely to drink often and heavily, more likely to drink alone, and more likely to have had family or friends tell them to reduce their drinking. Rainbow Youth wants to change the way alcohol and drug use is viewed, and will use its FebFast funding to raise awareness of the issues, for example through the use of blogs on the www.curious.org.nz and the www.rainbowyouth.org.nz sites.

• CareNZ, Waikato. Every year CareNZ helps more than 2700 people overcome addiction issues. FebFast funding will support an ongoing project that follows up focus group results collected from 14 schools. This will involve raising awareness of alcohol issues, the availability of help, and the need to diminish the harm caused by youth drinking in schools. You can read more about CareNZ at www.carenz.org.nz.

FebFast Coordinator Catherine Milburn says the event is all about participation, giving others a helping hand, and giving our bodies a break after the hectic festive season.

Comedian, corporate entertainer, writer, sickness beneficiary, voice artist, and TV personality – Guy Williams is a man of many parts. 2010 Billy T trialist Guy Williams has been stalking the boards of the New Zealand comedy scene for over four years. In 2011 he starred in TV3’s ‘The Jono Project’, where has been described as “easily the worst part of the show”. Winner of the 2009 ‘Dai’s Protégé’ stand-up comedy competition and highly commended at the 2008 Raw Comedy Quest final.